You're missing out. If nothing else, you have to watch North By Northwest, but there are so many great Cary Grant movies, it's hard to pin down a "must watch" list. Everything from Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House through That Touch of Mink and onto Charade or To Catch A Thief and dozens more in between. And my all-time favorite, Father Goose. And I've left out some of his best ones; those are just the ones that spring to mind that weren't necessarily mentioned in the article (there are plenty in there, too).

Seriously, do a search for best Cary Grant movies and go seek some out; even though nobody can agree on the order of said lists, everyone agrees which movies should be on there.

Just watched the Father Goose following your recommendation and came back to say thank you. Marvellous movie.

Thanks for the three answers (as yet) - but you guys are completely wrong. Pragmatics of language didn't do me a favor here because I was generally interested in getting a feeling about how much of today's HN audience has not heard of a movie star from the early to mid-20th century. Let's not forget, we are talking about a US movie star from a time period probably before most of HN readers were even born. And while HN is likely to consist mostly of readers from the Western world, there are probably lots of readers from countries whose youth was not dominated by Western media.

I actually know Cary Grant very well, you could say I'm a bit of a fan. When DVDs were a thing (giving you a hint about my age) I bought lots of his movies. So I can truly second the recommendations mentioned in the other answers here.

But I wouldn't have been surprised if knowledge of someone like Cary Grant couldn't be generally expected from the average tech audience of today, although I believe that they are on average more knowledgeable about and interested in general (everyday) culture. I mean, there has been more than one instance where I heard a younger colleague talk passionately about how much they liked a certain movie or show which I also love - only to find out that they are actually talking about a recent remake that I had never heard of. So not everything can be taken for granted.

Grant was more than a movie star, but also a symbol of movie-stardom. He's a prototype of the romantic male lead.

His name appears in dozens of song lyrics[1], many of them from after his death. Many are in other languages, and he's often paired with a similarly famous female star (Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn).

I suspect many people have heard of him even if they can't name a single film he was in.

[1] https://www.lyrics.com/lyrics/cary%20grant

Good point, thanks.

> “ Let's not forget, we are talking about a US movie star from a time period probably before most of HN readers were even born.”

Ha! First, let’s not forget. Grant was a “movie star”. But seriously, he was a star from a time even before I was born.

The difference probably has to do with the difference between people who grew up during the ages of broadcast television, cable television, video rentals (prolly add PC video games here), internet entertainment, and internet ‘television’.

If you grew up in the age of broadcast television you watched everything or went outside.

As an aside, I was talking to an intern at work. Somehow movies were mentioned and I guess I cited a quote from Pulp Fiction (1994).

Me: Oh? You haven’t seen it? It’s a great movie.

Intern: I don’t watch old movies.

(>_<)

I once had a very similar communication - and what's worse, the (younger) person's idea of "old" was everything older than 3-5 years.

As someone who's 45 (no wait, 44!) I was completely understanding why you were downvoted. And then I thought about it and it's kind of outrageous. He is, sadly, from a long time ago and it's understandable. He was old news when I was young.

That said, check out Charade. It's amazing.

EDIT: crap, no, 45 is right.

Being at 39, I've discovered Carry Grant's talent just a month ago. Since then watching his talent on screen brought a spark of brightness to days that happened to be quite rough.

Had this been asked few months ago I'd probably gave the same answer.

That's said, have some kindness for us. Masterpieces are getting undeservedly buried under pile of garbage produced by major companies nowadays, so discovering amazing talents is like a breath of fresh air.

Make sure to check out Gene Kelley too. Sing in’ in the Rain at a minimum.

Eventually you will encounter him. His Girl Friday is a favorite movie.

Yeah, that one is great.

Another fun classic is "Arsenic and Old Lace" even though you can very much tell that it's a stage adaptation. My friend's favorite Cary Grant movie is "That Touch of Mink" which I need to see again because the first time I watched it I didn't really get into it.

"Holiday", which is discussed in the original article, is definitely another recommendation worth watching.

And let's not forget the Hitchcock ones, like "North by Northwest", or, my favorite, "To Catch a Thief".

Thank you, I will add them to my list.

Let me know which ones you liked and I'll recommend you some more if you want.

Apologies for chiming in, but I wonder is you can give a piece of advise for someone who discovered Cary Grant movies just a short while ago?

Recommended Arsenic and Old Lace weren't enjoyable at all (Grant played amazingly though), but the Philadelphia Story (best movie I've seen in years), Charade, North by Northwest, Father Goose - those are amazing masterpieces which I enjoyed a lot.

You know, in the end "de gustibus non est disputandum". I'm not sure whether having discovered Cary Grant recently plays such a big role in whether you like a movie or not. It's probably more important what type of movie speaks to you.

You could try Notorious, and the Holiday - two very different specimen - and see which side you're leaning towards more, for instance.

Thank you. Totally agree with you.

Happened to see both Notorious and Holiday over the last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed both.

Did you see "To catch a thief" yet? It's with an older Cary Grant but still one of my favorites.

Not yet! Will give a shot on coming weekend, thank you.